Formula Milk.

Joey the lips

Hi Folks

O/H has been breast feeding the newbe for the past month. To make life easier and hopeing I can help out we have decided to switch to formula. The question is on the formula

How long can a bottle be stored in the fridge when its made.

Has it to be made and used as required

Or

Is someone going to tell me to buy the tin and read the instructions.


We are in a toss as which to go for SMA or Aptimel.

Any general info appreciated.

Nevyn

The tins will have the best intructions tbh or check the websites of the products.

While we do try and make the best decision you may have to try a few to find one that works best for your little one.

I would suggest getting the cartons of premixed formula and seeing which one your little one prefers and then by a tin.

http://www.smanutrition.ie

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Breastfeeding is best for babies. Good maternal nutrition is important for the preparation and maintenance of breastfeeding. Introducing partial bottle-feeding may have a negative effect on breastfeeding and reversing a decision not to breastfeed is difficult. You should always seek the advice of a doctor, midwife, health visitor, public health nurse, dietitian or pharmacist on the need for and proper method of use of infant milks and on all matters of infant feeding. Social and financial implications should be considered when selecting a method of infant feeding. Infant milk should always be prepared and used as directed. Inappropriate foods or feeding methods, or improper use of infant formula, may present a health hazard.

The sma website has a help sheet and a video for how to make up the bottles properly.

http://www2.milupa-aptamil.ie/

Not as helpful as the sma one but will give you info on the product again you could make what you consider to be the best choice and it may not agree with the baby's digestive system and you may have to try another one or you could get it right first time, it's trail and error.

I am not having a go but have ye considered a breast pump?
That way it's possible to transfer some of the breast milk into a bottle for later or so that Dad can do a feed and give Mam a break.

smelltheglove

Well I dont know what the instructions say exactly, somethign like use within 4 hours or so but honestly with my first I used to do a daily mix up. I had to make around 7-8 bottles a day, and my child slept very very little, in the morning I would make the majority of the days bottles and store in the fridge and a couple of fresh bottles in the evening.

I used milupa on both of mine. I honestly did not have the energy to be making bottle every few hours, being a single mother with a child who never heard of sleep meant I had little time on my hands or energy. On my second child I would make maybe 2 bottles at a time sometimes 3, and again store in the fridge. You can also get cartons for when you are out and about so you dont have to worry about the milk going stale.

January

Formula can be stored in the fridge for up to 24 hours. I used to make up the bottles every night before bed and store them in the fridge. As time went on I started to make bottles on demand when I knew baby would be looking for a feed... works out much better for me for some reason...

What kind of steriliser will you be using?

Ludo

The instructions vary all the time :rolleyes: (BTW eyes not aimed at any user here) The current instructions I believe are to boil the water and make up the formula only as needed and never in advance...at least that is what a friend told me he was told when bringing his new kid home last week.

To me that is unworkable. Waiting for a kettle to boil and then for the water to cool enough to feed baby will result in a lot of crying.

We used to fill up half the days bottles with sterile water in the morning and leave them out of the fridge so they were at room temp. Then more again in the evening (twins so a LOT of bottles were required). Then we added the formula to them as required. Worked pretty well for us.

I think the instructions will always be on the ultra-cautious side (as they should be) to cater for the lowest common denominator. But as long as you use common sense and proper hygiene there shouldn't be a problem.

Joey the lips

Thanks for your replies. Up since 6 so doing a bit of research.

The pump option we are doing but my other half is suffering from gorging or the simular term. She has no problem producing and the strange thing is our child will drink a full bottle of breast milk but only a half bottle of formula. This makes us wonder either 1. The child prefers the breast milk more or 2 the formula is heavier. We suspect the formula is heavier as our child goes longer between feeds.

Anyway I found the best solution that solves all problems and insures I am with formula and follows the instructions of all the manufacturers. What I can do is make up the bottle without the formula (ie store the in a sealed baby bottle in the fridge and ad the formula as required. Most of the formula's I discovered can be added at room temp

Or as suggested on the milupa website I can make the bottles up and cool them rapidly then store them.


Thanks again for your help. This is our second child but i feel like its our first. I cannot remember what we did the first time.

ash23

Ditto the post above. I boiled the water and left the bottles of water at room temp and added the powder as needed. I found that the easiest, rather than waiting for the water to cool or trying to heat the milk straight from the fridge.

Boom_Bap

Joey the lips wrote: »

Anyway I found the best solution that solves all problems and insures I am with formula and follows the instructions of all the manufacturers. What I can do is make up the bottle without the formula (ie store the in a sealed baby bottle in the fridge and ad the formula as required. Most of the formula's I discovered can be added at room temp

this is what was recommended to us during out anti-natal classes, something about being the safest way as a certain strain of bacteria will not grow in the milk.

oh - we used Aptimal follow on milk after the missus finished breast feeding. We've had no complaints and our little fella seemed to love it. We have recently switched to Hipp to change things a little.

meditraitor

I agree with the above(to late , up 2) poster. As for the formula, we asked in the hospital and the nurse said there is no real difference.
Aptimel, cow and gate, SMA

just different marketing

goosie2005

That's what they recommend as best practice now alright. Used to say make up all the bottles for 24hrs, cool quickly and place in fridge. Now , because the formula itself is not sterile, they say add the formula as you go to the bottles (which can be sitting on the counter filled with water for 24hrs).

gibo_ie

goosie2005 wrote: »

That's what they recommend as best practice now alright. Used to say make up all the bottles for 24hrs, cool quickly and place in fridge. Now , because the formula itself is not sterile, they say add the formula as you go to the bottles (which can be sitting on the counter filled with water for 24hrs).

We done a lot of checking on the same subject and the post above was pretty much what we got from health nurse and doctors.

Sterilise bottles
Boil kettle
Let kettle cool off for 30 mins
fill sterilised water into bottles WITHOUT formula and store in fridge (up to 24 hours)
Leave bottles out for use within 4-6 hours at room temp
fill formula when making up bottle and serve at room temp (or warm up if you like but no real reason for this)
You can get containers which will hold about 3 portions of formula so you can take when out and about
mix and shake when ready

All worked out well for us and i am sure there are other methods also but as i said this is what we came up with.

P.S. Bottle which has been drank from should be discarded within 2 hours and not offered to baby again - due to saliva from baby on teeth and germs growing from this.

Hope this is helpful.
M

meditraitor

gibo_ie wrote: »

We done a lot of checking on the same subject and the post above was pretty much what we got from health nurse and doctors.

Sterilise bottles
Boil kettle
Let kettle cool off for 30 mins
fill sterilised water into bottles WITHOUT formula and store in fridge (up to 24 hours)
Leave bottles out for use within 4-6 hours at room temp
fill formula when making up bottle and serve at room temp (or warm up if you like but no real reason for this)
You can get containers which will hold about 3 portions of formula so you can take when out and about
mix and shake when ready

All worked out well for us and i am sure there are other methods also but as i said this is what we came up with.

P.S. Bottle which has been drank from should be discarded within 2 hours and not offered to baby again - due to saliva from baby on teeth and germs growing from this.

Hope this is helpful.
M

All of the above but I dont think you need to keep the bottles of water in the fridge.

Joey the lips

gibo_ie wrote: »

We done a lot of checking on the same subject and the post above was pretty much what we got from health nurse and doctors.

Sterilise bottles
Boil kettle
Let kettle cool off for 30 mins
fill sterilised water into bottles WITHOUT formula and store in fridge (up to 24 hours)
Leave bottles out for use within 4-6 hours at room temp
fill formula when making up bottle and serve at room temp (or warm up if you like but no real reason for this)
You can get containers which will hold about 3 portions of formula so you can take when out and about
mix and shake when ready

All worked out well for us and i am sure there are other methods also but as i said this is what we came up with.


P.S. Bottle which has been drank from should be discarded within 2 hours and not offered to baby again - due to saliva from baby on teeth and germs growing from this.

Hope this is helpful.
M

This sounds perfect and most likely what we will do but just out of sheer curiosity if the water is cool when the formula is added we are assuming the formula is steryle. Is this not the case.

But then again I am confident reading that this is ok.

Thanks

neeb

Seriously consider continuing breastfeeding for the health of mother and child. It gets easier after the 6 week mark when the milk regulates. Feeds don't take so long. You wife is tired and emotional because she had a baby, not the breastfeeding. If you want to do a feed, consider expressing? Is your wife getting any support from breastfeeding groups, the hospital or the PHN?

To make up formula correctly you need to boil the kettle before each bottle and let it cool to 70 degrees. Anything else is risking tummy bugs. Do you want to do that when the water systems of the country are over whelmed by flooding?

neeb

Only the premade formula is sterile. The powder can't be sterilized, hence the difficult preparation.

neeb

Your wife can run down the engorgement by block nursing.

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/fast-letdown.html

Billiejo

neeb wrote: »

Seriously consider continuing breastfeeding for the health of mother and child. It gets easier after the 6 week mark when the milk regulates. Feeds don't take so long. You wife is tired and emotional because she had a baby, not the breastfeeding. If you want to do a feed, consider expressing? Is your wife getting any support from breastfeeding groups, the hospital or the PHN?

To make up formula correctly you need to boil the kettle before each bottle and let it cool to 70 degrees. Anything else is risking tummy bugs. Do you want to do that when the water systems of the country are over whelmed by flooding?

The above info is without fault. Up to date advice is 'make each bottle as needed, give and don't store'.

Joey the lips

Hi Folks Thank you for all your replies. Our child is 5 weeks old and in 3-6 month clothing. He was 22 lb the last time we were down. god bless my other half as he hangs out of her 24hrs a day. We have had to switch to bottles so now we do half and half and there is no confusion.

But I was worried I was still doing wrong dispite all the very helpful and greatful advice so I wrote to milupa and this was the reply. Just for your information of course.

Dear Joe

Thank you for your email. In relation to your query I can advise that according to FSAI guidelines best practice when preparing infant milk is to prepare each feed freshly. We do not recommend filling bottles with water and adding infant milk as required. If you need to prepare feeds in advance follow instructions below:-

Boil kettle and allow to cool for 30 minutes. Measure the required amount of water to bottles and add the correct measure of powder. Shake well and cool feeds under cold running water. Made up feeds may be stored in the centre shelf of the fridge for no longer than 24 hours.

To receive money off coupons and regular information on your pregnancy, baby or toddler, simply click the following link www.milupa-aptamil.ie/register

Many thanks
Orla Byrne
Freephone: 1800 221 234


Once again as this is straight from the horse(Sorry orla) I will be going with this but thank you all again.

Tabnabs

We make 24 hours worth of bottles at one go. It's very straight forward and you get into a rhythm quickly. Don't be fooled and buy the most expensive or whacky looking steriliser, our all singing and dancing Tommy Tippee one broke after six weeks. :mad: The cheapo Mothercare own brand is still going strong after six months use and abuse.

Variations on a theme here, but;

Sterilise and boil kettle (freshly filled) at the same time and stick on the cooker timer to beep after 30 minutes.
Then fill the bottles and put them in cold water in the sink to cool them.
Bang them in the fridge to keep chilled.

When you need one, boil the kettle and fill a small plastic container with the boiled water. Pop the bottle in and after ten minutes its a lovely warm temperature (check on wrist to ensure not too warm). Then add the powdered milk, shake and serve

We find junior likes the warm bottle much better than room temperature bottle. Goes down must faster.

The only negative to formula milk is the smell, it stinks, you'll always know when they get their wind up

andala

What used to work for us (and our little one) was to sterilise a thermos by boiling it for a couple of minutes and fill it with boiled water cooled to room temperature. When it was feeding time, we'd just use the water from the thermos and add formula. The thermos was sterilised daily and bottles were sterilised before each use until my son turned 3 months. Then we'd only sterilise the bottles every few days.